Toy guns which shoot or launch projectiles have been very popular for many years. These guns have been designed to launch projectiles in a number of ways. A common method of launching has been by the compression of a spring which propels the projectile upon its decompression or release, as, for example, with BB guns and dart guns. These guns however usually do not generate enough force to launch projectiles with great velocity.
Toy guns have also been designed which use compressed air to launch projectiles such as foam darts. These types of guns use a reciprocating air pump to pressurize air within a pressure tank. In use, a single dart is loaded and the pump is typically reciprocated several times with each firing of the gun. Therefore, the gun must be loaded and pumped with each firing as it is not capable of firing several darts in rapid sequence. The rapid firing of a gun may be desired for those playing a mock war or other type of competition.
Compressed air guns have also been designed having multiple barrels so that more than one projectile may be fired. However, these guns have a pressure tank for each such barrel. Thus, these guns require the pressurization of each pressure tank prior to firing. As such, these guns do not reduce the effort required to fire multiple projectiles. Also, compressed air guns have been designed with magazines for holding multiple projectiles. However, once again the gun is typically pumped between each successive firing.
Accordingly, it is seen that a need remains for a toy air gun which may rapidly fire a sequence of projectiles. It is to the provision of such therefore that the present invention is primarily directed.